Apply Lesson of Abbottabad to U.S. Border

Once the president and Congress unambiguously gave them the job of getting bin Laden, American patriots in the intelligence and military fields carried out the mission with the sort of awe-inspiring perseverance, courage and daring we have seen from American patriots throughout our history.

The as-yet-unnamed heroes of Abbottabad carved their own place in history.

And hopefully they have taught our leaders an important lesson: All the powers -- and limits on power -- needed to protect the security and prosperity of the United States are already built into our Constitution. They just need to be properly utilized and recognized.

President Obama should now apply the lesson of Abbottabad in securing our border.

The Constitution not only gives Congress the duty to defend the nation, but also the power to "regulate Commerce with foreign nations" and "establish an uniform Rule of Naturalization." It not only gives the president the duty to defend the nation, but also stipulates "he shall take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed." President Obama is not faithfully executing the laws that make it illegal to breach our border and bring contraband into the United States.

President Bush also did not faithfully execute these laws.

As a consequence, hundreds of thousands of unidentified illegal aliens cross into our country each year and massive quantities of illegal -- and deadly -- narcotics are smuggled into our neighborhoods and communities.

In March, Richard Stana of the Government Accountability Office told the Senate Homeland Security Committee there are 129 miles of the 1,954-mile-long U.S.-Mexico border where the Border Patrol can prevent or stop an illegal entry from taking place at the border itself -- and another 744 miles where it can stop an illegal entry only inside our territory at "distances of up to 100 miles or more away from the immediate border."

That leaves 1,081 miles of U.S.-Mexico border open to people who want to illegally enter our country.

The government that tracked bin Laden to a compound in distant Pakistan and took him out with an incredibly talented, trained and brave team of SEALs could surely secure our border, too.

The difference is our political leaders took their constitutional duty to protect our country seriously when it came to finding bin Laden over there. They do not take it seriously when it comes to protecting our borders here.